Radio Atlantic, IA – AM 1220

Braley says delay in post office closings gives time for more planning

December 15th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the Postal Service’s decision to delay closing all offices until May of next year isn’t just a move that will delay the inevitable. Braley says Congress has been working on changing the way the Postal Service funds its retirement system to allow them to save BILLIONs of dollars, and that’s why he favors delaying the closings.

“I think in this case the moratorium on making decisions will allow congress more time to try to address the problems facing the Postal Service in a meaningful way,” Braley says. The congressman has backed a bill by a colleague on revamping the postal retirement system and he says the U-S Senate is also considering action as well.

“I think that the impact of congressional action between now and the date when the Postal Service has decided to postpone its decision making will at least inform the decisions of the Postal Service on what type of action it needs to take,” Braley says. Braley says his questioning of the Postmaster General makes him confident the Postal Service is looking at several options to revamp its business once the pension issue is settled. “I think they have a lot of ideas that they are prepared to implement, some of which are good and some of which are not, but they haven’t just been sitting there idly, they are preparing to deal with the realities of their funding,” according to Braley.

There are 178 post offices in Iowa that are on the current list for possible closure. Locally, that includes those facilities in: Brayton, Cumberland, Grant, Kimballton, and Lewis. Braley and the rest of the Iowa Congressional delegation all asked the Postal Service to delay the closings, as did Governor Terry Branstad.